# Chapter 39
“No. No, Levi.”
Many soldiers had already gathered behind Ion, and each of them looked at Levi as if they’d seen a ghost. Some who had witnessed the massacre had seen people die just from the touch of Levi’s pitch-black right hand, so they quickly drew their bows.
Ion, desperate not to lose Levi, held his wrist firmly while shouting at the soldiers.
“Stand back immediately!”
“But Your Grace, he’s a mass murderer!”
“You’re in danger, Your Grace! Please come over here quickly!”
The soldiers refused to listen. Even when Ion yelled orders, they only hesitated briefly but didn’t back away.
Seeing Levi trembling with fear, Ion thought he should calm him first and deliberately tried to take his right hand. But Levi twisted his body to avoid it. He shook his head vigorously, intent on breaking free from Ion’s grip.
“Levi, I’ll be fine, so give me that hand.”
“No. They’ll, they’ll die again.”
Levi’s eyes contorted as if he was about to cry. Yet strangely, no tears came.
“They won’t die. You know it doesn’t work on me.”
Even amid the soldiers’ cries of danger, Ion ignored them and grasped Levi’s hand. Instinctively, the red mark on his palm glowed. Levi was startled and tried to pull his hand away, but the light naturally faded.
Seeing that his ability wasn’t activating, Levi finally felt some relief.
Ion smiled at him tenderly and caressed his face.
“It’s okay. I’ll protect you.”
Just as Levi was about to feel reassured by Ion’s comforting words—
“Step away, Your Grace!”
Several soldiers with bows shot arrows at Levi. Before Ion could block them, one lodged deep in Levi’s right shoulder, and another pierced through his black arm, protruding from the other side.
“Levi!”
The startled Ion instinctively placed his hand on Levi’s wounds. But since his ability was neutralized by Levi’s, it had no effect.
Levi was more shaken by the soldiers who still aimed their bows at him with eyes full of hatred and fear than by the pain in his shoulder and arm. The kind words Ion had just spoken were washed away like sand in rainwater by their intense emotions.
After being attacked by them, it hit him even deeper. What he had done, how much anger and fear he was receiving from so many people.
He was too stunned to even notice the hot blood flowing from his shoulder and arm.
“Levi, snap out of it! Look at me… Look only at me, just me.”
“…”
All the emotions that had been so abundant until moments ago seemed to have completely disappeared. Either he had no strength left to run away or he had no intention of pushing Ion’s hand away, swaying with every nudge. His head was bowed low. No matter how much Ion told him to look, he wouldn’t look at him or focus on anything at all.
‘Because of those damned bastards…!’
Ion glared at the soldiers over his shoulder. Though their position was understandable, he couldn’t forgive them for completely shattering Levi’s mental state.
“Lower your weapons right now!”
He thought he’d make them lower their threatening weapons first, then beat them one by one within an inch of their lives. Of course, he needed to console Levi properly first.
As Ion was about to shout at the hesitating soldiers again, he suddenly felt an immense killing intent over his hand that was holding Levi’s arm. When he turned around in shock, a man in black clothes had appeared out of nowhere and was bringing down his sword as if to cut off Ion’s wrist.
Perhaps because he had been so focused on the soldiers, Ion hadn’t sensed the man’s presence at all. The man wore a mask, so all that was visible were his cold black eyes and black hair—perhaps that’s why he had blended into the darkness unnoticed.
Whoever the man was, for Ion, there was no scenario in which he would let go of Levi in his grasp. But since he had no intention of getting his wrist cut off either, he twisted his body and kicked the man away. Thanks to this, the man’s body lurched greatly, and Ion was able to avoid having his wrist severed in one stroke.
“Ugh!”
But a serious injury to his wrist was unavoidable. Although his wrist wasn’t cut off, he suffered a deep sword wound that reached the bone, and the man in black clothes didn’t miss this opportunity.
The man forcefully kicked up Ion’s wrist, which was dripping with blood. Contrary to Ion’s determination not to release Levi’s hand, the hand that could barely exert strength due to the injury completely lost its grip.
The man seized this moment and pulled Levi to him at once. Then, after giving Ion a cold glare, he lifted the motionless Levi and ran around the alley.
“Levi!”
Having lost Levi before his eyes, Ion immediately gave chase. The blood streaming from his wrist created a vivid trail on the ground as he followed.
He had barely run a few steps when sharp arrows flew in from somewhere. After narrowly avoiding them, he noticed a murky liquid dripping thickly from the arrowheads.
‘Poison?’
More arrows came flying. Ion desperately chased after Levi and the man while avoiding them.
Using quick movements to dodge the arrows without slowing his pursuit, Ion unexpectedly collided with a man who darted out from the side, forcing him to falter. A poisoned arrow took advantage of this gap and lodged precisely in Ion’s arm.
“Ugh!”
He felt the poison spreading throughout his body, following the burning pain that started at the wound. The agony grew increasingly intense, like disgusting insects biting and gnawing at various parts of his body from the wound site. Nevertheless, Ion somehow tried to continue chasing Levi, pulling out the arrow, throwing it away, and raising his head.
The man, the archer, and the person who had suddenly appeared to push Ion—all were gone.
And so was Levi.
‘What… should I do…’
Despite being carried away somewhere by the black-haired man he had never seen before, Levi remained docile without a hint of resistance.
He didn’t particularly want to know who this man was or where he was being taken.
‘They’ll just use me for something else anyway.’
Kalvern’s face, smiling kindly at him, appeared in Levi’s mind.
Whenever Levi killed someone who supposedly threatened Kalvern and used them as nourishment, Kalvern always praised him. It wasn’t the first or second time he had assassinated someone. Since they threatened Kalvern, Levi protected him in his place and took “nourishment.” Each time, those who were assassinated would either call him a monster while looking at his right hand or beg for their lives.
But he couldn’t spare them.
Kalvern had asked him to kill them.
You are the only ones permitted as nourishment to satisfy my hunger.
After each assassination, he felt a sense of comfort as the hunger deep inside him somewhere disappeared. Kalvern would also stroke his head and praise him.
He didn’t feel much guilt then. It was okay to kill someone who tried to kill someone else. So he killed those who threatened and tried to kill Kalvern with his own hands. And so, when he used them as nourishment, he felt nothing.
But this time was different.
He had killed innocent people.
Falling into a state of starvation, unable to control himself, he killed whoever he caught and used them as nourishment.
“I like Levi. I like you so much.”
“I really like Levi.”
Only now did he realize that the voice of that boy and Kalvern’s voice were completely different. Why hadn’t he noticed that the sincerity and emotions they contained were different too?
Why had he been mistaken?
Why had he believed?
A person you truly like would never do such frightening things.
Ion’s face appeared in Levi’s mind as he sank into deep self-loathing.
“Don’t be afraid. It’s okay.”
“It’s okay. I’ll protect you.”
He was a person so kind every time they met that it was confusing.
He had thought that maybe it was okay to trust someone like him. He felt that way until the moment the man unhesitatingly took his black hand.
But that man’s subordinates attacked him the moment he let his guard down, and they pointed fingers at him, calling him a monster.
Once, that person with the brilliant golden hair had asked a question.
“Who told Levi to kill me that day?”
Ah…
So that person was trying to use me too.
He must have wanted to hear who was behind it and then kill that person. He had tried to threaten him.
‘I really shouldn’t trust anyone.’
You can’t trust people who treat you well. You shouldn’t trust people who say they like you.
“Trust no one.”
For a moment, Levi thought his mind had been read.
Levi looked up at the man who was carrying him and running.
The man with the same black hair and cold black eyes as himself met Levi’s gaze.
“We don’t need to trust anyone, and we shouldn’t.”
The man was saying “we.” Not alone.
The man who had put down the now-alert Levi showed his right hand that was hidden by his cloak. It looked like ordinary equipment—a long sleeve with a black leather glove.
When he removed the glove, a black hand identical to Levi’s was revealed. Even the red mark on the palm was the same as his.
“Your Majesty, the horses are ready.”
Two masked men approached, leading horses. One of them was leading two horses.
The black-haired man, who had been called “Your Majesty,” swiftly pulled out the two arrows that were still embedded in Levi.
“Ugh!”
He gently lifted Levi, who swallowed a short groan, placed him on a black horse, and then mounted it himself. Soon the horse took off in a hurry.
“Where… are we going?”
When Levi asked with a tense face, the man held the reins with one hand and supported Levi’s waist with the other.
“To where you belong.”
The man closed his mouth, leaving only those words.
